Sun Devils Open Regular Season this Friday with UNLV

TEMPE, AZ, October 20. ARIZONA State opens its regular season for both men and women in swimming and diving open this Friday, October 22 against UNLV.

Events are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. local time at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The school also released information on the remainder of the season:

Schedule Features Tough Competition
As can be expected, the Sun Devils have a strong schedule ahead for the 2004-05 season. The five dates of the home dual meet lineup feature some of the top teams in the nation.

The women have meets in Tempe against three top-20 teams from last year including Stanford (No. 5), California (No. 6), and Oregon State (No. 20). Of the four men's home meets, two are against top-10 teams from last year: Stanford (No. 2) and Arizona (No. 7).

The away schedule includes a trip to Los Angeles, Calif. where the women take on USC (No. 9) and UCLA (No. 7) and the men battle against USC (No.14). The Sun Devils also travel to the midwest for dual meets against strong opponents out of the Big Ten and head to Texas for the Texas Invitational.

Both the men and women wrap up the regular season with a showdown against their intrastate rival Arizona.

ASU vs. UNLV
The Sun Devil men last saw UNLV last season in Las Vegas which saw the men come out with their first victory of the season (138-99). In the 2002-03 season both the men and women opened up the regular season against the Running Rebels where both squads recorded wins.

ASU, This Season In The Pool
So far this season the Sun Devils have participated in two intrasquad swimming meets which have included the Maroon & Gold meet on Oct. 1 and the Pentathlon on Oct. 16.

Freshmen Sarah A. Fischer, Lucas Azevedo and CJ Nuess got the new season underway at the Maroon and Gold Intrasquad with two wins apiece. Fischer finished on top in both the 500 freestyle (4:56.93) and the 1000 freestyle (10:12.74), while Azevedo got wins in both distance freestyle events with times of 4:56.93 and 9:22.21 respectively. Nuess got off to a strong start claiming first in the 400 IM (4:03.75) and the 200 breaststroke (2:04.58) while finishing second to Azevedo in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:27.05.

Senior Florencia Szigeti, reigning Pac-10 Champion in the 200 freestyle, and freshman Caitlin Andrew swam NCAA consideration times in the 200 freestyle with times of 51.06 and 51.13 respectively.

At the pentathlon, the freshmen led the way with Andrew and Nuess coming out on top in their respective divisions. The meet called for each swimmer to compete in the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free and the 200 IM. Cumulative times were totaled and then the athletes were ranked within their gender. For the women, Andrew clocked a grand total of 6:04.65 to come out on top by over 11 seconds. On the men's side, Nuess led the pack by more than four seconds with a time of 5:27.06.

Up Next For The Sun Devils
The weekend of October 29-30, both squads will head to the midwest. Both the men and the women will take on Purdue on Friday, October 29 while the women will also compete against Notre Dame. The men remain in West Lafayette, Ind. on Saturday, October 30 for another match up against Notre Dame while the women travel to Bloomington, Ind. to take on Indiana.